Five people were found dead at an apartment in St Louis, Missouri, prompting police to appeal to the local community for help.The victims’ bodies were discovered after a friend of the group returned to the building in the north of the city at around midday on Saturday.All five are adults but detectives did not release any information about their ages, genders or causes of death.“We can tell they are homicides,” said St Louis County police officer Tracey Panus outside the scene on Chambers Road.“We got a call around noon for suspicious deaths in the 1900 block of Chambers. When we responded we found five deceased victims.“We don’t know cause of death, we don’t have any suspects in custody, we are just looking for tips, we are looking for people to call our investigators to provide any information they may have seen between 9pm and noon today.”Detectives used specialist equipment to take 3D images of the crime scene as part of the homicide investigation. The St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported that the bodies were discovered by the father of one of the victims.Ronald Brewster, 68, said he went to the apartment to pick up his 40 year-old son, also named Ronald, for a family reunion. He said his son was a drug user, adding: “I worried about him and tried many times to get him into rehab.”Photographs of the single-floor apartment block showed several windows and doors boarded up. Police said not all of the units were vacant.St Louis County Police chief Jon Belmar said: “It’s a tragedy for a community, any time there is a scene like this, when five individuals are a victim of homicide.“We need help from the community to assist us – somebody out there knows what happened.”

Club for Growth, a conservative political group, will launch new attack ads against Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden targeting his past statements about race next week.The ads, which come amid criticism of Mr Biden’s work with segregationists in the 1970s, will run during his first Democratic debate appearance.The decision to attack Mr Biden is based on internal polling Club for Growth conducted that has been viewed by Reuters. The ads will air on MSNBC and NBC stations in Des Moines, Iowa, according to the organisation.Iowa holds the nation's first nominating contest.Club for Growth, whose stated top policy goals include reducing income tax rates, a full repeal of Obamacare and reducing the size of the federal government, will never back a Democrat for president, but it is wading into the Democratic primary likely because Mr Biden poses the greatest risk to Donald Trump's re-election bid. Early national polling and surveys in important swing states have repeatedly shown Mr Biden beating Mr Trump in a hypothetical match up.Club for Growth's poll found voters were less inclined to vote for Mr Biden if they were told he had previously taken positions that included opposing slavery reparations and busing of school children as part of desegregation systems."Joe Biden’s past statements and positions on race issues present a serious challenge to his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination according to our polling," Club for Growth president David McIntosh said in a statement to Reuters."This poll and the coming ad are designed to help voters and observers of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary understand the field as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the frontrunner, former vice president Joe Biden."Mr Biden, who has consistently been the frontrunner in the Democratic presidential primary, drew sharp criticism from his Democratic rivals this week when he pointed to the "civility" during his early time in the US Senate in the 1970s when he worked with segregationists. He has refused to apologise, pointing out that he opposed segregationists.Mr Biden is one of two dozen Democrats vying to challenge Mr Trump in the November 2020 election. The Democrats will go head-to-head in Miami next week in their first debate.The Club for Growth poll – which included 1,000 voters in the 18 states that are the first to hold primary contests – reaffirmed Mr Biden's position as a frontrunner. It found, like other polls, that Mr Biden's lead is being fuelled largely by black voters. The poll found 46 per cent of black voters, 29 per cent of Hispanic voters and 33 per cent white voters are backing Mr Biden.The poll found Mr Biden followed by US senator Bernie Sanders and then senator Elizabeth Warren.The research also looked more closely at the four states that conduct the first nominating contests: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. In those states Mr Biden leads, but Ms Warren edges out Mr Sanders – a possible sign of her growing support in states that are pivotal for the primary contest.The poll was conducted 10-13 June by Republican polling firm WPAi Intelligence.Reuters

Huawei's mobile business took a serious hit from the Trump administration this year, but that doesn't mean the Chinese smartphone maker is done launching new devices. After kicking off Honor 20 sales in several markets, the company on Friday launched a brand new handset that targets the mid-range market. However, the Nova 5 phones include a Pro version that packs the same chip that powers other Huawei flagships. Just like other Huawei phones though, the Nova 5 won't be available in the US, at least officially.The Nova 5 series is made up of three phones, per GizmoChina, including the eNova 5 Pro that features the same processor as the high-end Huawei P30 Pro and Mate 20 Pro. The other two phones in the lineup include the cheaper Nova 5 and the Nova 5i which seems to be a rebranded version of the P20 Lite (2019).The Nova 5 and Nova 5 Pro both feature a 6.39-inch OLED Full HD+ display with a single-lens camera notch at the top and an in-display fingerprint sensor.The Nova 5 Pro packs 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage, while the Nova 5 only has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The Nova 5 also features a cheaper processor, the Huawei-made Kirin 810, but this chip is also built on 7nm tech just like the Kirin 980 flagship. On the back, the phones have four cameras, including a 48-megapixel Sony sensor, 16-megapixel ultra wide angle lens, 2-megapixel depth sensor, and 2-megapixel macro lens. On the front, there's a 32-megapixel shooter with an f2.0 aperture. Both handsets run EMUI 9 based on Android 9.0 and feature 3,500 mAh batteries that support 40W fast charging.The Nova 5i, meanwhile, is a new version of the P20 Lite (2019) that packs a better camera. We're looking at a 6.4-inch LCD screen with a 24-megapixel hole-punch camera at the top. On the rear, there's a 24-megapixel primary sensor paired with a 16-megapixel ultra wide lens and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. The phone's fingerprint sensor is found on the back. Other specs include the Kirin 710 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and microSD support. The 4,000 mAh battery only supports 10W charging.The Nova 5 Pro starts at 2,999 yuan ($ 436) for the version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is far less expensive than comparable phones available in the US. The Nova 5 with the same RAM and storage combo is 200 yuan cheaper (around $ 407), while the entry-level Nova 5i costs 1,999 yuan ($ 291). Preorders start on July 13th for the Nova 5 phones, and June 28th for the Nova 5i in China, with other markets to follow.

On the eve of the National Rifle Association’s annual convention, Everytown for Gun Safety has unveiled a new ad campaign that argues the organization is “becoming more fringe and more toxic to the Americans it has long claimed to represent.”

Israeli military aircraft bombed Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip early on Friday, hours after two rockets were launched at Tel Aviv in the first such attack since a 2014 war. Rough cut (no reporter narration)

ASpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel's first lunar lander on a mission that if successful will make the Jewish state only the fourth nation to achieve a controlled touchdown on the moon's surface. The unmanned robotic lander dubbed Beresheet – Hebrew for the biblical phrase "in the beginning" – soared into space from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at about 8.45 pm.EST (1.45 GMT Friday) atop the 23-story-tall rocket. Beresheet, about the size of a dish-washing machine, was one of three sets of cargo carried aloft by the Falcon 9, part of the private rocket fleet of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's California-based company SpaceX. The rocket's two other payloads were a telecommunications satellite for Indonesia and an experimental satellite for the US Air Force. Beresheet was jettisoned into Earth orbit about 34 minutes after launch, followed 15 minutes later by the release of the two satellites, according to a SpaceX webcast of the event. Israeli Aerospace Industries director of Space division Opher Doron speaks in front the spacecraft Credit: JACK GUEZ/ AFP In addition to a textbook launch and payload deployments, SpaceX scored yet another success in its pioneering technology for recycling its own rockets. Just minutes after blastoff, the Falcon 9's nine-engine suborbital main-stage booster separated from the upper stage, flew back to Earth and landed safely on a drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean more than 300 miles (483 km) off the Florida coast. As seen from the launch site, the distant glow of the returning booster rocket was visible in the sky just as the moon appeared over the horizon. The spectacle drew cheers from mission control engineers. The encouraging moment came on the eve of a key hurdle for SpaceX to clear in the company's quest to help NASA revive its human spaceflight program. On Friday, NASA is expected to decide whether to give its final go-ahead to SpaceX for a first, unmanned test flight on March 2 of a new capsule the company designed for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Beresheet is slated to reach its destination on the near-side of the moon in mid-April following a two-month journey through 4 million miles (6.5 million km) of space. NASA is expected to decide whether to give its final go-ahead to SpaceX for a first, unmanned test flight of a new capsule designed for carrying astronauts Credit: AFP A flight path directly from Earth to the moon would cover roughly 240,000 miles (386,242 km), but Beresheet will follow a more circuitous route. If all goes according to plan, the spacecraft's gradually widening Earth orbit will eventually bring the probe within the moon's gravitational pull, setting the stage for a series of additional maneuvers leading to an automated touchdown. So far, only three other nations have carried out controlled "soft" landings on the moon – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. Spacecraft from several countries, including India's Moon Impact Probe, Japan's SELENE orbiter and a European Space Agency orbital probe called SMART 1, have intentionally crashed on the lunar surface. The US Apollo program tallied six manned missions to the moon – the only ones yet achieved – between 1969 and 1972, with about a dozen more robotic landings combined by the Americans and Soviets. China made history in January with its Chang'e 4, the first to touch down on the dark side of the moon. Beresheet would mark the first non-government lunar landing. The 1,290-pound (585-kg) spacecraft was built by Israeli nonprofit space venture SpaceIL and state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) with $ 100 million furnished almost entirely by private donors. Beresheet is designed to spend just two to three days using on-board instruments to photograph its landing site and measure the moon's magnetic field. Data will be relayed via the US space agency NASA's Deep Space Network to SpaceIL's Israel-based ground station Yehud. At the end of its brief mission, mission controllers plan to simply shut down the spacecraft, according to SpaceIL officials, leaving Beresheet as the latest piece of human hardware to litter the lunar landscape.

Donald Trump, the US president, declared on Monday that he has "never" worked for Russia as he hit out at reports that he was investigated by the FBI over alleged ties to the Kremlin. The US president delivered a definitive rejection of claims that the FBI investigated whether he was acting on Russia's behalf when he sacked James Comey, the bureau's director, in 2017. It came after he refused to say "no" when asked if he was working for Russia in a Saturday night interview, instead saying: "I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked". On Monday morning Mr Trump said: "I never worked for Russia… I think it’s a disgrace that you even ask that question because it’s a big fat hoax." Mr Trump's comments followed a New York Times report over the weekend that the FBI's senior officials became so concerned by the president's behaviour they began investigating why he was taking steps that appeared to benefit Russia and were against American interests. Trump tells reporters he never worked for Russia t.co/GSGKn0wqaupic.twitter.com/npzuP6pUAh— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) January 14, 2019 The fact that the FBI is investigating whether Mr Trump obstructed justice by firing Mr Comey has long been public knowledge, but these are the first claims of a wider investigation into the president and his motives. According to the NYT, counterintelligence officers looked into whether the president’s actions posed a potential threat to national security and whether Mr Trump was knowingly acting in Russia's interests or had unwittingly fallen under its influence. Mr Trump described the FBI leaders who launched the probe as "known scoundrels". He added: "I guess you can say they are dirty cops." It is not clear what conclusions the FBI probe reached and what its status might be now. The Fake News gets crazier and more dishonest every single day. Amazing to watch as certain people covering me, and the tremendous success of this administration, have truly gone MAD! Their Fake reporting creates anger and disunity. Take two weeks off and come back rested. Chill!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2019 Speaking outside the White House, Mr Trump told reporters that it was good to have strong relationships with Russia, China and India. "I have relationships with almost everybody and that's a good thing not a bad thing," he said. In a separate development on Monday, CNN said it had obtained transcripts of two FBI officials' closed-door interviews with the US Congress interviews which appeared to confirm that the FBI leadership looked at whether Mr Trump fired the Mr Comey "at the behest of" Russia. According to document seen by CNN, James Baker, the FBI's top legal adviser at the time, told congressmen that the FBI officials were considering whether Mr Trump was "acting at the behest of [Russia] and somehow following directions, somehow executing their will." "That was one extreme. The other extreme is that the president is completely innocent, and we discussed that too," Mr Baker told an investigation by the House of Representatives last year. "There's a range of things this could possibly be. We need to investigate, because we don't know whether, you know, the worst-case scenario is possibly true or the president is totally innocent and we need to get this thing over with – and so he can move forward with his agenda."

A manhunt has been launched after an illegal immigrant gunman shot dead a California police officer during a traffic stop. The suspect had been stopped for possible drink driving when he shot the officer, Ronil Singh. Donald Trump said the incident showed why his proposed wall on the US-Mexico border needed to be built. Mr Trump said: "There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!" There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2018 The US government is currently partially shut down because Democrats have refused to grant Mr Trump billions of dollars in funding for the border wall. Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson in California said authorities have identified, but won't yet name the illegal immigrant suspect. They believed he was still in the area, around 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, and was armed and dangerous. Sheriff Christianson said: "This suspect is in our country illegally. He doesn't belong here. He is a criminal. "The sheriff's office will spare no expense in hunting down this criminal." Fighting back tears the local police chief Randy Richardson said Mr Singh, 33, originally from Fiji, had a newborn son, and was an "American patriot". The police chief said: "He came to America with one purpose, and that was to serve this country. "Please help us find this coward. We need closure, his family needs closure. "Please remember the man. Yes, he was a police officer, but he was a human being. His five-month old he will never hear talk, he will never see his son walk because a coward took his life." Mr Singh stopped the attacker in Newman, a town of about 10,000 people, on Wednesday as part of a drunken driving investigation and fired back to try to defend himself. Police were looking for a man seen in surveillance photographs at a nearby shop shortly before Mr Singh was killed. Mr Singh was shot a few minutes after radioing that he was pulling over a grey pickup truck that had no licence plate. A truck believed to have been the one stopped by Mr Singh was later found in a garage in a mobile home park about four miles from the shooting.